What The Hell Is Going On With These Australian Idol Hosts

Revered reality TV show Australian Idol is back with a whole new set of judges and contestants. 

Originally starting up in 2003, the show quickly became an Aussie favourite and continued until 2009 when it was sadly cancelled. In those six glorious years, Idol unearthed a plethora of Australian talent with notable stars like Jessica Mauboy, Guy Sebastian, Stan Walker, Shannon Noll and Matt Corby all getting their start on the show.

This year they've announced that their judges are Harry Connick JR, Meghan Trainor, Kyle Sandilands and Amy Shark (note: she's the only Australian songwriter on the panel).

As with anything Idol in 2022, the line up has already received significant backlash, with many calling out the clear lack of diversity on the show. Australia's music scene is changing drastically, with more diverse voices and perspectives being thrown to its forefront and Australia's biggest music based TV show needs to reflect this. 

While Amy Shark and on stage host Ricki Lee will probably do amazing jobs, its sad to see that we had to outsource our judging talent to overseas artists, with one of them being quite insignificant in today's day and age. Australia is full of amazing performers and established artists, would they serve as better mentors to these budding and desperate artists ready to make their break?

One of the most horrible media figures and alleged bullies in the country Kyle Sandilands will judge young, vulnerable artists on the show. He's been called a racist and transphobe for claiming that he identifies as a "black woman" as well as saying that "I’m not buying into the ‘their’. I can’t. It’s too much,” in regards to correctly identifying non-binary people. That's just one incident. He's allegedly called woman "fat slags" asked female hosts if they had boob jobs and whether they'd slept with high profile sportsmen. Hardly the role model that young artists should be seeking validation from if you ask me. 

Application are still open for auditions and there are two ways to go about it. Punters can either upload a video on the Australian Idol casting website or register for a face-to-face zoom call with a producer. 

Unfortunately, not everyone is able to participate in this years auditioning process with the team behind Idol releasing four prerequisites that applicants must meet to be apart of the show. Those include: Applicants must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident (for at least two years), be between 15 and 28 years old (as of 1 September 2022), be fully vaccinated with three doses and valid vaccination certificates, and not have any contract, arrangement or agreement with any other TV program, producer or record label. 

I hate, hate that there is going to be a whole wave of talented young singers who are likely going to have moments on national tv where they get demeaned by one of the worst individuals to happen to the Australian media landscape in the hopes of getting a contract. https://t.co/y3oGe6Dh9F

— Sose Fuamoli (@Sose_Fuamoli) September 28, 2022